Broken
by OrionHR
Summary: How do you say good bye to someone that left before their time? Post OotP and only slightly AU. Based on the Seether & Amy Lee song "Broken".


A/N: This is my first fic I've actually made any decent attempt of writing. Maybe this will help light the fire under me to write more. Anyway, I'm not normally into the whole 'songfic' concept unless they are done well, but this song just seemed appropriate, especially after listing to it a couple dozen times.

Harry was guided along the rooms of the Department of Mysteries, though he didn't really need it. He knew exactly where he was going and could probably find his way blindfolded. A room he'd only ever been to twice. A room where some people never returned from.

He marveled that he was allowed to do this, but supposed it might have had something to do with the fact that the new Minister of Magic was an Order of the Phoenix member as well as a man that cared for Harry like one of his own sons. Arthur Weasley had finally collected on all the payments of good will throughout the wizarding community when Fudge received the vote of no confidence. He had offered to personally walk with Harry for this, but Harry begged off, saying that this was something for himself and the last of the Marauders.

The two of them came to the door of the Death Chamber, currently guarded by two Unspeakables, posted for just this night. After being verified for having taken the full dose of Wolfsbane potion and signing a magical bond not to pass the veil, the pair were allowed to enter.

Harry stood back a little before concentrating on the animal with in him. A hissing shriek rose in his mind and bat-like wings pumped and sprouted through his robes. Feet and hands turned into hooves as his face elongated and he fully emerged as his Animagus, a thestral. A dozen feet away from him, Moony laid down to quietly accept his change. The grey fur pushed out from his skin and his hands curled into sharp taloned paws. Howling in pain at the loss of another of his packmates, the werewolf prowled about the room, the pain of his loss evident through the still human eyes. The thestral clattered over, its hooves ringing on the stone floor as it walked along with the lycanthrope. Each seemed to share the other's grief, the two animals partners in mourning.

The night wore on and dawn found the pair facing each other in front of the cracked and decayed archway, the wolf sitting on its haunches while the reptilian horse stood. Both shed solemn grey tears from their eyes, blue in the wolf's head, vivid green for Harry. Far above the underground chamber, the moon had set and the sun rose. The werewolf slowly vanished, being replaced by a weary and faintly greyer looking Remus Lupin. The blackish green horse turned away and walked towards the veil, shifting fluidly into Harry Potter, he stopped 2 feet from the veil.

"Harry, remember we aren't to-,"Lupin started to warn the young man.

Harry cut him off, finishing the admonition, "Cross the veil. I know. I wasn't planning to, anyways. That prophecy, remember? I doubt that crossing the veil would kill me. I mean it pretty much HAS to be Voldemort."

Lupin made no reply but another tear slipped down his face, for his recently named godson. _So much death and pain in his life, and yet he's only just started to live. What more must he face..._

Harry, for his part, paid no more attention to his ex-professor but stared through the half-tattered veil and, unbidden, words came to his tongue. They seemed to call out through the archway.

"**I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away  
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain  
  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away**."

Tears started to flow again from Harry's eyes as Lupin stood and joined in.

**You've gone away, you don't feel me, anymore  
  
The worst is over now and we can breathe again  
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away  
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain**

Harry's voice, which had faded while the werewolf sang, now returned, thick with emotion.

'**Cause I'm broken when I'm open  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away**

The two figures both broke down, kneeling on the cold stone floor, and wept.

In the far nothingness that was the Spirit Realm, a lone figure sat on a rock over looking the ocean of the underworld. Those that looked at it would swear that it changed shape occasionally, sometimes becomes a massive, shaggy, bear-like dog, other times being human shaped but lean and long haired. It had been searching ever since it arrived for something it could only name in the sense of a need but had, of late, grown weary of looking and never finding and settled on the rocky shoreline.

The wind never really died or ceased, but merely ebbed or raced, like a storm with sullen fits. The figure on the rocks was once again in it's human shape as the wind slowed to the almost-nothing that came during the relative peace in the storm he was starting to call the Tempest. Then he cocked his head listening, as if a strange sound had entered the grey world. Singing, he realised. Two voices, one was a young man's voice that was tight with repressed emotion that now was flowing like the breach in a dam; the other voice was older and somewhat deeper and so very tired sounding. Come to think of it, the young voice sounded nearly as weary.

**'Cause I'm broken when I'm open  
And I don't feel like I am strong enough  
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone away**

Perhaps, it was a trick of the wind. After all, this place would play tricks on you, if you let it. But the voices were calling out for something... or was it TO someone? Another moment and the figure jumped up with a bark of laughter and began to run, following the voices. They hadn't forgotten him in the hellish place.

Chasing the sounds of their song, he made his way back to where he had woken up in this place. Looking out through the archway, Sirius saw his raven haired godson and his greying-blond best friend kneeling on the floor, seeking support as their voices strained and cracked, singing to release all the emotion they held locked up inside themselves. The words were occasionally punctuated by sniffles and choked swallowings.

It looked to Sirius as though they were standing and getting ready to leave. He strained hard and tried to give them single phrase to let them hear his voice one last time.

Harry and Remus stood and, without word or understanding passing between them, reached out together to touch the ragged black veil. Unknown to them, the one they called to was standing just upon the other side, struggling to find a way to let them know he was there. Turning, the two figures started to climb out of the amphitheatre of the Death Chamber. Their voices were low, but remarkably clear as walked towards the door.

**'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome  
And I don't feel right when you're gone**

Was it their imagination when they heard a voice echo theirs? But it wasn't quite an echo since it wasn't the same words. Nor was it their voice. Neither one turned to look at the archway, but they paused in the stride to listen to the words. And, in his heart, Sirius knew they had heard him.

**You've gone away  
You don't feel me here anymore**

(A/N 2: My description of the Dead World is from the now-defunct StoryTeller game of Wraith: the Oblivion. I know that Harry would be out of school for several years before this song would be available (according to the canon timeline), but you know what? I'm ignoring THAT because I can.)


End file.
